


Wildberries and Windflowers

by noahliza



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Long haired Vanitas, M/M, baby opossums, vaguely post kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:21:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23852221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noahliza/pseuds/noahliza
Summary: It's been a while, since Vanitas was not-so-welcomed to the Land of Departure with Ventus. To Ventus' annoyance, he's never once cut his hair. He's also started to keep secrets...
Relationships: Vanitas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 72





	Wildberries and Windflowers

**Author's Note:**

> i had..no idea how to tag this one. it's so much softer than my usual

It was distrust at first — distrust tinged with fear if he was being honest with himself — and then it was apprehension. The apprehension faded, and all that was left was stubbornness, and enjoyment at Ventus’ irritation.

But now, Vanitas was the one irritated as he sparred, long hair flying wildly and getting in his face, distracting him from  _ the fact that he should be blocking right now- _

Vanitas dodged at the last moment, popping back up behind Ventus and shoving him off-balance. He couldn’t help but grin as Ventus nearly faceplanted into the dirt.

“Hey! That’s not the form you’re supposed to be practicing!” Ventus scowled as he stood himself back up. “Quit playing dirty when we’re supposed to be  _ sparring. _ ”

“And miss out on seeing you nearly eat shit? No thanks!” Vanitas cackled.

“You’re such a jerk!” Ventus whined, shoving Vanitas’ shoulder.

“Just for you.”

“You’re a jerk to everyone, Vanitas.”

“Especially for you?”

“Ugh. Sure.” Ventus rolled his eyes fondly. “Hey, Vanitas?”

“Yeah?” 

“Are you getting sick of your hair yet? It was really in your face earlier.”

“Never.” Vanitas scoffed. 

“You’re still gonna resist getting a hair cut? It’s not that bad!”

“How bad it is doesn’t matter, I refuse to give in and give any of you the satisfaction.” 

“You’re killing me, Vanitas. You’re killing your other half.” Ventus groaned loudly, slouching. Vanitas elbowed him in the stomach and he doubled over, but not before grabbing Vanitas by the shoulder and dragging him down too.

The two landed in a heap and laughed for a moment. Ventus went quiet and looked at Vanitas intently.

It became unbearable quickly. Vanitas broke eye contact first, embarrassed.

“What do you want?” Vanitas glanced back to Ven’s eyes.

“Can I braid your hair?”

“Hah?!” 

“To keep it out of the way! It’ll be less annoying, then.”

Vanitas thought it over quickly, melting under Ventus’ gaze. “Yeah, fine.”

Ventus directed Vanitas to sit facing away from him, and started combing his fingers through Vanitas’ hair. Vanitas sat tensely, unused to the sensation. Ventus worked slowly, clumsily going through the motions.

“Okay, done.” 

Vanitas’ shoulders relaxed instantly. 

“Oh, wait. You don’t have a ribbon or something, do you?” Ventus asked, still holding onto the end of Vanitas’ braid.

“Why would I?”

“You’ve got stuff hidden all over the place! I just assume that you’d have basically anything, at this point.”

“Maybe I do somewhere. Not with me, though.” Vanitas shrugged.

Ventus sighed. “’Kay. You’ll just have to deal with the braid falling apart this time. Bring a ribbon tomorrow, I’ll braid your hair before training.”

“Right. I’ll keep that in mind.” 

“Do you wanna head back to Aqua and Terra?”

“I gotta go grab something first, you go ahead.” Vanitas shook his head.

“Hiding things again? You’re such a packrat.” Ventus laughed lightly. “Just make sure to hurry back, I think Aqua was going to make a pie from those wild berries she picked!”

“Will do.” Vanitas nodded, then headed into the woods. He’d snuck off just before his spar with Ventus; after hearing Aqua talking about the wild berries, and picked some to eat on his own. Stashed away, so he wouldn’t have to share. He’d found a pretty decent spot near a lake, washed them, and hid them away in a bag to prevent bugs from getting at them. 

As he approached his stash, he realized he hadn’t taken determined animals into account. Four tiny animals crowded around the tattered remains of his bag, berry juice stained all over their snouts. 

Vanitas growled in annoyance — three sets of beady eyes stared at him, frozen; while the fourth dropped to the ground as if it had just died. Vanitas tilted his head in confusion, not sure that he was truly capable of killing with a glance. At least, not without trying to, maybe.

He approached slowly and crouched down next to the animals, and realized the one that had dropped was still very obviously breathing — playing opossum. Vanitas recalled Ventus explaining the phrase once, when more things were new.

So these tiny thieves were…opossums. 

They still stared up at him, none of them even making a move to run away, none of the three tried to follow the one’s fake death. _ Is there something wrong with them? _ Vanitas studied them curiously, trying to remember if Ventus had said anything useful back then.

“You shouldn’t be awake right now.” Vanitas realized. “You guys are supposed to be awake at night!” Things quickly clicked into place.  _ They’re supposed to be nocturnal, they’re way tiny, they must be lost babies? _

The opossums continued their stare-down. Vanitas quickly decided this was a terrible place for them. Luckily, playing opossum meant that they were easy to grab and hold. 

“You may be thieves, but I guess… It’d be pretty shitty of me to leave you guys by the lake on your own.” He mumbled. “I think Ventus would be pretty mad, too.”

Heat spread across Vanitas’ face at the thought of Ventus seeing this.  _ He can  _ **_not_ ** _ find out about this… I’d never hear the end of it! _

One of the opossums wiggled its way out of Vanitas’ arms. “Hey! Where do you think you’re-” It climbed up onto his shoulder and started pawing at Vanitas’ hair.

“Ventus braided that, you turd! Quit! My hair’s not a nest!”

The opossum didn’t quit, and in the short time it took for Vanitas to get to another nearby stash, his braid was a mostly-undone mess.

“Okay, here.” Vanitas crouched back down in front of a tree. He moved aside a big chunk of moss-covered wood, revealing a large hollow under the tree. “You’ll be better off in here, and when your mom comes back you’ll be nearby. So, stay.” He set them down one-by-one, watching as they sniffed around. After a moment, though, his patience ran thin. He gently shooed them under the tree, and set off toward the castle.

—

“Got a ribbon?” Ventus chirped.

“Yeah.” Vanitas held it out for him.

“Red?” Ventus wrinkled his nose. “You’re so predictable. Hold onto it for a bit, though.”

“Saying that as if you wouldn’t pick  _ green _ for your hair.” Vanitas scoffed.

Unable to come up with a retort, Ventus flicked the back of Vanitas’ head.

“Hey! Do you want me to let you do this, or not?!” Vanitas growled. “I could just let you be annoyed with my hair down.”

“I thought you liked the braid!” Ventus pouted. “I thought I did pretty good…”

“It was fine, Ventus.” Vanitas placated. “Do you have any idea how weird it is to have you touching my hair, though?”

Ventus was quiet for a moment. “Ah, yeah. I guess you haven’t had any reason to get used to that sort of thing, since you’ve refused haircuts…”

“Whatever. Just… Braid my stupid hair already. Get it over with.” 

“Alright, alright.” Ventus huffed out a small laugh. The room became quiet as Ventus started brushing through Vanitas’ hair. Vanitas tensed up at the light contact, but kept still.

Ventus finished brushing and started on the braid, Vanitas gripped his ribbon anxiously.

“Hey.” Vanitas broke the silence. “Where’d you learn to braid, anyway?”

“Huh?” The hands behind Vanitas stopped moving.

“Well I mean, I don’t think I’ve seen any of the long-haired wielders wear braids ever? And most of them have kinda short hair, anyway.”

“Oh, um, to be honest I’m not sure? I feel like I learned it a long time ago.”

“A long time ago, huh..?” Vanitas murmured, and the quiet settled back in as Ventus finished the braid and tied it with Vanitas’ ribbon.

A week went by, and Vanitas slowly started getting used to the new routine of Ventus braiding his hair every day before training. He checked on the baby opossums daily, but their mother never came. It scared him a bit, the idea of being the sole caretaker of something so small and helpless. But…they were still alive.  _ Maybe I’m doing fine, then… _

The opossums seemed to adopt him as a caretaker quickly, getting used to his presence and climbing all over him when he stopped by to bring them food. There was…a fondness towards them, that he hadn’t expected to develop. He was happy to let them climb on him, mess up his braid, eat from his hands, whatever they wanted to do. 

He’d rather die than admit it, but he talked to them about Ventus. He’d tell them about his day, about the foods he’d bring them, about how Aqua and some of the other wielders still made him nervous even though they had all started being truly kind towards him recently.

It was nice, talking to something that couldn’t talk back. They couldn’t understand him, but they sure did seem to listen.

—

Another week, and Ventus had started to fret.

“Why won’t you tell me what you’re doing out there?”

“Because it’s not a big deal, Ventus.” Vanitas shrugged.

“If it’s no big deal, then tell me! I’m worried!”

“Why are you so worried? It’s just the woods.” Vanitas’ lip curled. “What, is Aqua afraid I’m out there doing something dark?”

“Seriously?!” Ventus clenched his hands into fists. “I thought we were past this kind of thing!”

“Yeah? So did I!” 

“Why do you have to turn this into an argument, Vanitas?! I just want to know!”

“Because it’s not your business!” Vanitas snapped. “Can’t I have a bit of privacy?”

“Wha- …Of course you can! That’s not what I meant..! I’m just…worried?”

“Worried?” 

“Yeah..! You’re going off by yourself for a long time every day, and…I mean, when you used to do that before, you were places that I could find you…at least after a little while…”

“So?”

“So, I’m worried I did something wrong! I feel like I upset you, and you’re just putting up with me when you have to be around me!”

“Ventus, you-” Vanitas was interrupted by the sudden sound of rain hitting the roof. “Rain?!”

“Um, yeah..?”

“Sorry, Ventus.” Vanitas ran out of the room, Ventus’ protest was drowned out by the rain now pounding against the roof. By the time Vanitas made it outside, it was pouring.

He took off for the woods, scrambling as quickly as he could to get to his opossums. 

_ If the lake floods, or the ground under the tree fills with water, or if the tree falls, or—  _

Finally, Vanitas made it to the tree. He dove down to get a good look underneath — they were okay! A puddle was forming in the hollow, but hadn’t gotten very big yet. The opossums hesitantly came out, very unhappy about the rain.

“C’mere, guys…” Vanitas panted. He’d nearly sprinted the entire way there. 

Once the opossums were all out from under the tree, Vanitas gently scooped them up and headed back towards the castle. He tried to shield them from the rain as well as he could, but they were quickly soaked just as much as he was. 

There was a shed out back, for storage. It wasn’t used super often, Vanitas was sure he could hide the opossums there until the rain stopped. He was even lucky enough to find an old, faded picnic blanket for the opossums to use as a nest.

“I’ll bring you guys dinner later…I gotta go…apologize…” Vanitas gritted the last word out, not looking forward to how upset Ventus probably was with him.

He wasn’t even sure what he could say, without revealing that he’d been caring for a pest species for two weeks. 

Vanitas trudged inside, trying his best not to drip water everywhere he stepped. Ventus wasn’t at the door, wasn’t in the main living quarters, wasn’t in their room. Finally, Vanitas found him. In his own room. It was had a few of Vanitas’ personal items in it, but was largely unused, since he and Ventus shared a bed most nights.

“Ventus, what are you doing in here..?”

Ventus jolted, nearly dropping the thing in his hands. He turned around to face Vanitas. It was his old helmet.

“Why do you have that?” Vanitas murmured.

“I was just…looking at it.” Ventus quickly set it down, back on the dusty shelf. “I dunno…”

“Ventus…we’re past that.” Vanitas offered, stepping cautiously towards him. “I don’t hate you, I’m not mad at you. I’m not upset with you.”

“Then why won’t you tell me where you keep going? Why’d you run out into a storm?”

“Please let me keep this secret. It’s nothing bad, I swear. I’ll never lie to you, you know this.” Vanitas held his hand out, hesitating to take Ventus’.

Ventus grabbed hold of Vanitas’ hands quickly. “I believe you.” He murmured, then paused. “You smell like a wet dog…”

“Excuse me?!” Vanitas snatched his hands away from Ventus. “I’m trying to be nice and you tell me I stink?!”

“I’m sorry, you kinda do!” Ventus stifled a laugh — giggly from the rapid emotional back-and-forth.

“Fine, then!” Vanitas grabbed Ventus’ hands again, and shook his head around. Water whipped off of his hair, splashing all over Ventus, who tried and failed to wriggle out of Vanitas’ grasp.

“Gah! You suck!” Ventus whined. “Now I gotta dry off, too… You know, you really should have dried off first. You’re gonna get sick.”

“No way.” Vanitas rolled his eyes. “That’s a dumb superstition and you know it.”

“No it’s not!”

—

The next day, Vanitas woke up exhausted, with a sore throat. 

“I told you so!” Ventus sing-songed. Vanitas tiredly swiped at him.

“I’m fine.” Vanitas croaked, aware that he absolutely didn’t sound fine. “I gotta go…do something.” 

“What?! No you don’t. I’ll let Terra and Aqua know, they won’t be mad at you for skipping training today.”

“Not that.”

“What, then?”

“Secret thing.”

“Ugh, even though you’re sick?! You should be resting!” Ventus protested.

“I gotta.” Vanitas stood up and almost immediately lost his balance, spots dancing in his vision.

“Okay, woah, woah!” Ventus steadied him. “Absolutely not!” He pressed the back of his hand to Vanitas’ forehead. 

Vanitas’ eyes half-closed, Ventus’ hand felt cool and nice.

“Okay, I’m not really a good judge of this, but I think you have a fever. Please lay back down.”

“No.”

“Why are you being so stubborn?!”

“I really have to do this, Ventus. I  _ have to _ .”

“I know it’s your secret thing, but if… If it’s this important, then let me come help!”

“What?” Vanitas jerked his head back, nearly losing his balance again from the quick movement.

“Let me come help with whatever thing you have to do. What if you pass out on the way there, or something? Then you won’t be able to do it.”

“I hate that you’re right.” Vanitas grumbled. “Fine. I’ll spill the beans. Go get some fruit from the kitchen. Doesn’t matter what kind.”

“Uh, okay?” Ventus shot Vanitas a confused look, but headed off anyways. He returned quickly with a few bananas, and then Vanitas slowly led the way downstairs and out back.

“I don’t remember sickness feeling so bad.” Vanitas complained. “Did we never get sick, or something?”

“How should I know?” Ventus shrugged. He lagged behind as Vanitas turned towards the storage shed. “Um, I thought your secret was in the woods?”

“It was. Now it’s not.” 

“Oh. Okay.” 

Vanitas opened the door and ushered Ventus inside, closing it behind them.

“Now, be quiet, okay-”

“ _ Baby opossums?! _ ” Ventus gasped loudly. 

“Shh!” Vanitas tiredly smacked him on the shoulder. “I’m not trying to let the entire world know!”

“Sorry.” Ventus grinned sheepishly. “So your secret thing…was that you’ve had baby opossums?”

“Yeah.” Vanitas tiredly sat down by the nest, and the opossums immediately began clambering all over him. “I’ve been making sure they have something to eat every day. Gimme one of the bananas.”

Ventus handed one over, and watched as Vanitas peeled it and split it up into small chunks for the opossums to eat. They both watched quietly as the opossums chowed down.

“They’re really cute…” Ventus gushed, holding his hand out for the nearest one to sniff. 

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool.” Vanitas nodded. “I had to move them in here because of the rain storm.”

“Oh, so that’s why you took off like that… Don’t scare me like that again, okay?!”

“Okay.” Vanitas nodded, eyes drooping closed.

“Hey, don’t take a nap in here.” Ventus prodded Vanitas’ shoulder.

“I’ll nap wherever I want…”

“Nope. You’ll go sleep in bed and I’ll ask Aqua what medicine you should take. I’ll check on the babies later.”

“You’re so cruel, Ventus, I’m so tired.”

“And that’s why I told you to stay in bed earlier!” Ventus sighed and started placing the opossums back onto their blanket nest.

After lots of prodding and pulling, Ventus finally managed to get Vanitas up and walking, and back into their bedroom. He ended up taking care of the opossums for most of the week, while Vanitas recovered.

—

“I think it’s time to take them back to the woods.” Vanitas decided. He wasn’t sure the opossums could really be called babies any more, they’d grown a lot since he found them. 

“Yeah?” Ventus asked. “Are you letting them go?”

“Kinda..?” Vanitas thought. “I mean, I’ll still check on them a bit longer…”

“Want me to come with?”

“Sure.”

The two headed off, the four opossums hanging out in Vanitas’ jacket pockets and on his shoulders as if that was truly the spot they belonged.

They walked through the woods slowly until they reached the lake — which was now surrounded by a field of little red flowers.

“Oh, wow! Vanitas, this is such a cute place! You found this on your own?”

“I-uh, the flowers…weren’t here before…” Vanitas shook his head.

“It’s still a really nice spot.” Ventus grinned. “Oh, hey! Can I re-do your hair?”

“Um…sure?” Vanitas nodded, carefully sitting down in a way that wouldn’t jostle the opossums. He gently grabbed the two on his shoulders and set them on his lap, lightly scratching their heads one by one.

Ventus quickly undid Vanitas’ braid and combed his fingers through it, smoothing the hair back out. He picked a handful of flowers and began carefully re-braiding Vanitas’ hair, weaving the little red flowers in. Vanitas sat still and quiet, but relaxed. Ventus’ fingers in his hair felt nice — so close and so gentle.

“Done!” Ventus cheered. He moved Vanitas’ braid so that it hung over his shoulder, then walked around and sat back down in front of Vanitas. “So, what do you think?” He grinned.

Vanitas blinked owlishly. “I like it. Why’d you put flowers in?”

“I thought it’d look cute.” Ventus shrugged, still smiling.

Vanitas’ cheeks flushed, and he looked down at the opossums to avoid Ventus’ gaze.

_ Cute..! _ Ventus snuck his gummiphone out of his pocket and snapped a photo of the little family.

Vanitas’ head jerked back up at the shutter sound, his face reddening madly. “Did you just?!”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist!” Ventus stifled a laugh.

“Ventus, I’ll kill you!” 

“Not with a lap ful of opossums, you won’t!” 

“What _ ever _ !”

“Sorry, sorry! You just look like a cute family all together like that.” 

Vanitas glanced at the opossums, then at Ventus, and then fixed his eyes on the ground. “Well…you took care of them too.”

“Huh?”

“You took care of them too! If you’re gonna take a picture, you have to be in it too!” 

“Okay, okay!” Ventus laughed. “Calm down, I’ll take another.” He scooted next to Vanitas, trying not to lean in  _ too _ close — and Vanitas closed the gap. Shoulder-to-shoulder. Ventus held his gummiphone out and turned on the front camera.

“Smile!”

He ended up taking quite a few — some with Vanitas’  _ ‘I don’t know how to smile in photos’ _ fake smile, a few genuine ones, some focusing on the opossums. He turned his head and closed his eyes, planting a kiss on Vanitas’ cheek. There was a moment where Vanitas tensed up in surprise, but he turned and returned the kiss happily.

When Ventus looked at those ones later, he was happy for burst mode. There were all of Vanitas’ reactions right there. Shock that looked a bit like, but wasn’t disgust. Confusion. Embarrassment, with happiness shining in his eyes. And then the kiss. 

They really did look like a weird little family, two people and four opossums. Ventus couldn’t help but grin when he looked at it.

The next morning, Vanitas woke up early and was long gone by the time Ventus got up. On the nightstand was a small red flower, and a green ribbon. 

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes a family is two dads and their four adopted opossums :")
> 
> if you're interested, you can find me [on twitter!](https://twitter.com/strawberiglitch)


End file.
